GT40 replicas made in Oz

[Falchoon]

GT40 replicas made in Oz

Paul Gover

06aug04

IF YOU want to buy an original Ford GT40, you need at least $1.5 million. The classic 1960s racer is one of the world's most desirable collector cars and has even sparked a 21st-century revival from the FoMoCo – the new Ford GT.

The original GT40 was born out of frustration and rage when Henry Ford II decided he would crush Ferrari in the Le Mans 24-hour sports car race after he failed to win control of the Italian company. His car – which was called the GT40 because it was just 40 inches high – did just what Henry II intended, winning the classic race four times.

But there is a way to have a GT40 that's even better than the original for less than $150,000.

Irishman Robert Logan has set up a company on the Mornington Peninsula called Roaring Forties to build the world's best GT40 replicas.

He has had a passion for the GT40 for 40 years and, after failing to find a car that met his needs, decided to build one himself.

"We call it an RF40 for Roaring Forties. It comes from my nautical background. I think all cars should be named after a wind and I think my Forties should roar," Logan says.

He is a GT40 nut who knows everything there is to know about the cars, from their race results to the cost of a car.

"You can pick up a known race-history car for about $1.8 million," he says. But even Logan is not sure about the number of "original" GT40s in the world.

"Of the 97 cars built, there are 133 known to remain in existence," he says with a laugh.

But Logan knows exactly what's happening with his cars. His team at Dromana, Victoria, is working on its 105th car and he is also creating his first replica with a monocoque chassis rather than a steel spaceframe, just like the original racers.

An RF40 comes with everything: airconditioning; leather seats; a choice of V8 engines; a six-speed manual gearbox from an Audi; and, thanks to MoTec, traction and launch control in a hi-tech engine management system.

But just as importantly, the RF40s are finished like a true luxury car, right down to doors that shut with the clunk of a Mercedes and allen-head screws that are all perfectly aligned.

"Interestingly enough, each of our turn-key customers wants a car that's bigger and better. Every single customer we have for a turn-key car raises the bar," Logan says.

"The latest one has traction and launch control, adjustable sway bars, AP Racing brakes and a six-speed Audi gearbox from an A8."

Many customers take their cars as kits (technically Roaring Forties is a kit-car maker), building the RF40s themselves mixing components from Dromana with their own choice of engine and equipment.

"It takes a customer about three years to build a car. Kits for the body- chassis start from $18,000. A rolling chassis is about $30,000. And we will build a turn-key car at a realistic price of high $120,000s to the $130,000s.

"But the sky is the limit. The latest one, which has everything that turns and burns, cost more than that."

Most owners buy an RF40 because of their passion for the original GT40, but they also get a genuine 21st-century supercar, with race-tuned suspension and performance that includes a 0-100km/h sprint time of less than five seconds and a 250-plus top speed.

"One of our cars was clocked at 282km/h on Avalon Airport. That was with a 302 V8," Logan says.

Logan can always tell you more, but with a brilliant blue RF40 idling in the carpark, it is time to go.

ON THE ROAD

IT'S hard to believe the GT40 was born in 1964. It still looks wickedly gorgeous. Slide into the seat of the Logan creation, turn the key on a 220kW Tickford TE50 V8 and you remember it is a road-legal racer.

It looks as if it wants to go, sounds as if it wants to go, feels as if it wants to go. So with permission from John Keogh, whose blue-with-white stripes car we are borrowing, and Logan in the passenger seat, we go – straight into central Melbourne.

Most modern exotics would cough and complain in city traffic, but the RF40 burbles along, though you only have to tickle the throttle to get a taste of Le Mans.

The engine grumps and thunders and it's time for the next gear. Heads turn to stare.

It's hard not to be impressed by the race-style driving position, the instant response from the controls, and the standard of finish. The cabin trim is perfect, the body glows with a deep sheen and everything fits perfectly.

But the real delight, away from the city, comes as you tackle some turns. The steering is heavy and so is the brake pedal, but the car rides easily over bumps, turns easily into corners, and slingshots down straights with its V8 roaring. Robert Logan wants to take the car further.

"One of my greatest desires is to race my cars in Nations Cup and in the Bathurst 24-Hour race," he says.

"This car was designed to race and then they compromised it to make it a road car. Now I would like to go racing with one of my cars."

A WHEEL NUTCASE

ROBERT Logan is a car nut who has turned his passion into a successful business. It helps that he is Irish and has a sense of humour that is matched by his work ethic and commitment to perfection.

The retired British naval officer says he can trace his love of the GT40 back to his eighth birthday, and his first Scalextric model racing set.

"I became a GT40 nutcase when my father bought me a slot car set. I saw my first kit in 1980 in England and I became an enthusiast then," he says.

He was in the navy for 22 years, starting as an apprentice shipwright and moving up to become an engineer.

He moved to Australia in 1990 with his wife Verona and decided it was time to put his GT40 plan into action. It was an easy commitment for a man who knew all about construction and management, but a tough job to get a start-up business going well.

'It was a hobby on steroids, and now I have 12 staff and we've had to turn it into a serious business," he says.

"Do I still drive one? Yes, I have one. I have some motorbikes as well, because I used to race motorbikes when I was much younger and much more silly."

BUILT FOR SUCCESS

FORD built 97 GT40s in the 1960s.

Roaring Forties has topped that tally and is also about to move into a purpose-built factory on the Mornington Peninsula to satisfy rising demand for its cars.

"We're now on car 105, so we have done more than Ford. As we speak, number 97 left last Friday for the United States of America," company founder and chief Robert Logan says.

It's a long way from the early days, when Logan struggled to create a car which would satisfy his high standards.

"I built my first car in the early 1990s and that was an English kit. It couldn't stand up to the rigours of the Australian roads," he says.

It meant a major rethink and a total engineering overhaul, which forged ties with the late Jim Shepheard and Ross Holden, a talented race-car engineer who had worked with Mark Skaife at Gibson Motorsport.

The success of their work is reflected in sales, but also in wins at the world's most important kit-car show, at Knottsberry Farm in California.

"We won best manufacturer of grand touring cars, which included more than GT40s. We won this year and in 2002, and we weren't there in 2003," says Logan.

"But a customer car won in 2003 and came second in 2004."

Herald Sun

[hello]

well I saw a gt40 or a replica down in brisbane near the airport...

looks damn nice

[ducatijb]

All time classic...would love to own one...

[Blown BA]

All time classic...would love to own one...

Or one of these COBRA

[GlennAUII]

All time classic...would love to own one...

Or one of these COBRA

or one of these! Shelby Mustang GT500

[ducatijb]

Oh Ford...where did it all go wrong.........

[stardust]

or one of these! Shelby Mustang GT500

YES YES YES as the saying goes

[-carty]

one in temora here

here http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=8604

[Cro]

or one of these! Shelby Mustang GT500

Oh Elanor

[ktford]

Yes I want a Replica with the Gurney flap & a blown GT engine.

Scotty